About Us
Garrett’s Herd
Garrett’s cow herd traces back to the 2002 Kel McC Angus sale with the purchase of “Kel McC Ms Husker 9018 235,” a foundation female cornerstone of the MAS ranch. Coming from the respected Kel McC program, she embodied the kind of Angus cattle Kelly builds for the real world — maternal, functional, growth-oriented, and backed by carcass quality without sacrificing practicality.
Most of today’s cowherd traces directly back to that female. The herd has been built by retaining elite daughters generation after generation and selecting cattle that can thrive under real ranch conditions while still producing calves that perform where it counts.
Too much of the modern Angus industry has drifted toward single-trait selection, chasing low birth weight numbers and carcass data at the expense of fleshing ability, longevity, structural integrity, and maternal function. This program was built with a different mindset. By incorporating Simmental genetics, the focus has remained on building complete cattle — cows with the capacity, fertility, disposition, and durability to stay productive for years while raising heavy, high-performing calves that feedlots and buyers demand.
The result is a cowherd designed to work anywhere: efficient enough for tough environments, powerful enough to push down the scale, and balanced enough to deliver value from pasture to rail. No extremes. No paper cattle. Just functional, productive cows that do it all — because calves are still sold by the pound.
Gavin’s Herd
Gavin’s herd started at the 2004 Kel McC Angus sale with the purchase of “Kel McC Ms Maiden 310 10” a heifer that was bred to Kel McC Windy 345. The “Maiden” line has proven itself to be consistently easy calving, and easy keeping in both performance and convenience traits. With 15 of the current herd tracing back to the original 310 cow. While the bulk of the females that make up the herd are product of retained heifer calves, other individuals have been added that we felt could add, to the genetic contribution to the program. AAR Airy Primrose 5217 and AAR Airy Primrose 7231 a set of sisters purchased from Arntzen Angus ranch purchased in 2016, and 2018 respectively, and S Pioneer 355 purchased from Schmitt Angus in 2016, all have daughters in production at the ranch and looks as though they will have an influence on the herd for years to come.
Our Program
To us, calving ease was never meant to come at the expense of growth, power, or real-world performance. We believe the industry has spent too long chasing tiny birth weights while forgetting that vigorous, healthy calves are what keep commercial cattlemen profitable. Our cows are expected to calve unassisted, raise heavy calves, breed back, and stay productive in tough country without being pampered.
Our mature cows consistently calve naturally on calves weighing roughly 7% of their body weight, with the 2020 calf crop averaging 86 pounds at birth. Bigger, stouter calves simply get a better start in the kind of environment we ranch in. Summer development is straightforward and practical — green grass, loose mineral, plenty of water, and no creep feed. We want cattle that work off forage, not feed buckets.
Calves are weaned at roughly 200 days and developed on a high roughage ration designed to promote muscle, structural integrity, and long-term maturity rather than artificial fat or short-term performance. Replacement females are bred as yearlings around 430 days of age and expected to hold up under real ranch conditions. These cattle travel rough country, endure long winters, and often work in an environment where feed has to be put in front of them for nearly half the year. Function, efficiency, disposition, udder quality, feet, fertility, and longevity are non-negotiable.
Every commercial calf we raise is backed by Maloney Angus Simmental bulls selected for growth, maternal quality, structural soundness, and phenotype without sacrificing carcass merit. The goal is balanced cattle that can perform from pasture to rail and in any environment they end up in. We believe there are too many good cows in the world to tolerate a bad one.
Alongside the registered herd, our family runs roughly 500 head of commercial mother cows that are GAP certified, IMI CARE certified, and verified all-natural NHTC. These cows are managed with the same expectations and standards as the seedstock herd and annually average over 600-pound weaning weights at just 200 days of age.
The very top-performing cows from the commercial herd are cherry-picked into the Time Synch AI protocol program, allowing proven real-world females to influence the next generation of cattle. The result is a cowherd built around cattle that actually work — fertile, productive, growth-oriented cows that thrive under pressure and raise the kind of calves the industry demands.